Flashes
by Rayrawl
Summary: It had never interrupted his work before, he had it under pretty good control. Harvey and Donna knew of course, and made sure he avoided his triggers. So when a Times Magazine photo shoot comes along, Mike is excused from attending. Jealous of Mike's position as Golden boy, his ability to get out of company publicity and hide away in Harvey's office, the associates play a prank


He'll find out, more than three week after the accident, that they did it because they were jealous and childish. That they assumed he got to get out of it because he was Harvey's chosen one, and nobody was going to challenge it if Mike didn't want to because that meant going up against Harvey as well. He'll learn that everyone, even Harold, was involved. That they thought it would be funny and they _didn't know_.

Mike will learn that when Donna found him, the blood coming from his temple and the unusual angle of his wrist and at least three fingers were the things she was least worried about, and that she cried for an hour with blood on her own fingers, waiting for Harvey in a hospital waiting room. He'll learn that Harvey stayed with him in the hospital for two days straight before Jessica made him go home, but he came back straight afterwards, he never left unless it was necessary, and if he did then Donna was there for him instead.

Two months after it happened and Mike will return to work, confined to a new desk in the corner of Harvey's office. He won't speak to any of the other associates, because none of them can even look him in the eye anymore. Some days, Harvey will have to remind him to take his medication, take a nap, get off the computer and get some sleep. And that's not confined to the office either, not since Mike moved in with him when he was released from hospital a month ago. He'll be slower than he was, just as brilliant, but slower at being so.

It will take him almost a year to be back up to his previous levels of health, but still even then everyone has to be much more observant, careful. And all because of one stupid joke played by jealous associates who thought he was the bad guy for being good at what he does.

* * *

He went through three weeks of Harvey bugging him about learning to drive and getting a car before he sort of just... exploded. Harvey had sat there shocked as Mike hissed at him in his office.

"_I'm epileptic, you ass. I'm not allowed to drive, i can't get a car, no matter how much i wish i could. No matter how long i go without a fit, i'll never be allowed. So please, stop bugging me about it. I can't do anything about it, so deal with it. Okay?" _

"_Jesus. Mike- Kid... You never said. Why didn't you say?" _

"_It's just.. They are a side effect of my parents' accident, i got a bad concussion and then i got epilepsy. I've been fit free for about three months now, on a new medication, it didn't seem important anymore."_

"_It is important, you should have told me." _

"_M'sorry." _

"_It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm sorry too, for bugging you about driving. Now that we know, we'll probably have to talk over the finer parts of it, but if it doesn't affect your work then it shouldn't be a problem."_

They had talked about it, with Donna of course, and decided that both Harvey and Donna would read up on dealing with Grand Mal and Petit Mal seizures, just in case. Other than that it wasn't an issue. Pretty much forgotten, really.

Until it came to the photo shoot Times Magazine wanted to do, for a piece about the lives of associates in highly recommended law firms. Mike would be, and probably should be, heading up that article and photo shoot, working under Harvey Specter.

Donna and Harvey had gone to Jessica the day before and told her that Mike couldn't do it, she'd apparently bitched and moaned about it, but once it was explained she practically wrote him a note excusing him. So when the photographers turned up the next day, Mike had hidden out in Harvey's office working on the Fielram Briefs. As the other associates had marched past, he'd gotten at least three mutinous looks and a death glare from Kyle that lasted until he disappeared behind the white screen the company had set up. Donna hadn't been at her desk, so she couldn't tell him what was being said as the others glanced inside the room, but he couldn't imagine it was any good.

Harvey coughed at him, so Mike diverted his attention back to his work and pretty much forgot about the photo shoot going on outside.

* * *

Harvey had gone to a partners meeting just before lunch, sending Mike out to get something to eat before he got back. The photo shoot was still going on, so he kept his gaze down in case there was any errant flashes and headed back, hoping it would be done by the time he got back. Kyle, Gregory, Harold and a couple of the others were back at their cubicles already, so he figured it'd be done by the time he got back and he'd be able to actually leave Harvey's office without fear of being triggered.

The elevators were stuck on higher floors when he came back to the building, forcing Mike to take the stairs. It was a good job he biked and walked pretty much everywhere, because that was a whole boatload of stairs to climb. It took ten times his normal time to reach their floor, panting for breath before the last twelve leading to the door at the top. He was bent a little, eyes down, which is the only reason he has for not seeing the group of people gathered just around the little corner on the little area at the top of the stairs. Taking a deep breath, he took maybe another five or six steps up before raising his eyes and catching them. Kyle and Gregory were at the front of this little group, sniggering.

"What's going on?" Mike sighed, looking over the gathering of maybe eight people above him. Kyle's grin widened.

"Well, we figured that it was hardly fair that you got to skip out on photo day, Mikey." All of them pulled cheap disposable camera's out from behind their backs, and Mike was surprised that he hadn't realised before that they had something hidden. He recognised them immediately, the kind with the switch at the top that would give them flashes. He gulped. Suddenly trying to rush up and push past them, he took another two steps up, breathing harshly as the panic kicked in.

"Don't do this. Please don't do this." He begged, taking another step up.

"Say cheese, golden-boy." Gregory sneered, raising his camera. Mike had a moment of pure, unadulterated panic before the flashes started going on. They were coming from every direction, and he tried to turn quickly and avoid them, but it was too later. The copper taste in his mouth was the first sign, and he knew it was over then. Could feel a tightness in his muscles, and then he stumbled, fell. After that, everything was blank.

* * *

They stopped laughing when Mike was lying on the floor at the bottom of that flight of stairs. He was twitching, limbs flying and thrashing, jaw clenched. There was blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, his nose, the corner of his head just above the temple. It wasn't stopping, his body constricting, tensing, relaxing and then doing it over and over. One arm kept slamming against the bottom step, and as it pulled away they could see the unnatural angle it had bent to.

"Oh, shit." Gregory breathed out, dropping the camera and jogging down the stairs until he was throwing himself onto his knees beside Mike.

"Tell me he isn't epileptic." Kyle shouted, turning around to the others. "Tell me."

"I don't know." Harold cried back. "Oh, god. I don't know. I'm going to get Donna." Harold pushed past the people behind him, all watching as Gregory pinned Mike down as he arched and thrashed. Kyle swore, and some of the others turned and left. In their panic they could only focus on the effect this would have on them, that if they focused on what they'd done to Mike, what was happening, they would lose themselves to the terror of it all. Kyle turned when Greg called to him, running down the stairs to help pin Mike's legs as he was still fitting on the ground.

Donna burst through the door with Harold at her heels a minute later, slipping out of her heels at the top and rushing down the stairs.

"Let go of him." She grabbed Kyle by the shoulders and tugged him back as Gregory obeyed her and did it himself.

"_Idiots."_ She hissed.

"Someone call an ambulance, and go downstairs to wait for them." Kyle, Greg and Harold were all frozen, watching as she moved to kneel by his head. She didn't hold him still, but slid her cardigan in the space beneath it and put her hands close on either side.

"Now!" The three of them scurried off, heading up towards the elevators, still quicker than running down all of the stairs. Quickly she twisted her watch, checking the time between Harold coming to find her and getting here now. Three minutes. Another minute and they were in a massive danger zone, in Mike's case. When they'd gone over his good's and bad's, he'd explained timing. Two – three minutes and he'd be sick after but otherwise okay. Four – seven and he's be out of commission for a pretty long time. Seven plus and he'd often be stuck in Status Epilepticus, fits that can last hours, stopping and starting repeatedly. From the looks of it, Mike had already banged his head pretty hard; he really didn't need any more seizures on top of that.

The paramedics arrived seven minutes later but Mike had stopped fitting at six minutes. Now, he was laid limp and unconscious, with a thread pulse and uneven breathing. His wrist, obviously broken, was pressed against the stair unnaturally.

"What happened?" A male paramedic knelt down beside her; she was stroking her fingers through his blood matted hair.

"Michael Ross, he's got photosensitive epilepsy triggered by a prank some of his colleagues worked today with cameras. He fell down the stairs, fitted for six minutes Grand Mal. He's been unconscious since." The Male paramedic nodded and said something to the other paramedic stood beside him. Donna didn't hear it, her voice had been cold, and although she could feel the blood on her fingers and tears on her face, she couldn't really feel anything else.

"Ma'am." The other paramedic put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her away from Mike a little.

"We're going to put him in a neck brace and on a backboard, then we're going to take him over to Lenox Hill because it's closest. You can follow us there." Donna nodded numbly, standing and heading up the stairs. Sliding into her shoes, she held the door open as the paramedics struggled to carry Mike up on the backboard, lying him down on a trolley as soon as they were at the top.

"If you could call his emergency contact, Ma'am, that would be very helpful." Donna nodded as they got into the elevator, everyone on the floor watching. She turned, still numb, making her way to her desk to get her phone and purse. She needed to call Harvey, and get to the hospital. That was all that mattered right now. As she made her way back towards the elevators herself, she saw the associates gathered in the bullpen, watching her nervously. Kyle and Gregory were nowhere to be found, but she stopped by them anyway.

"I really hope you didn't like this job too much, because once Harvey gets ahold of you, you'll be lucky if all you lose is your job." Donna hissed, before turning and stalking away, phone held to her ear. Harvey didn't answer, still stuck in the partner meeting at the restaurant across town. She left him a voicemail instead.

"Listen, Harvey." Donna choked out, trying to battle the emotion finally working its way through her. "There's been an accident. It's Mike. I don't know how he is right now, but they've taken him to Lenox Hill because it's closest. Just, please. As soon as you get this, come find us." Donna hung up, finally having made her way to the ground floor. She practically threw herself into a taxi as she got outside, barking the destination at the man and then slumping in her seat.

* * *

The meeting ran over by half an hour, and traffic in New York is terrible as usual. He's more than an hour later than he said he would be by the time he gets back to the office. Harvey took his usual stroll through the bullpen, looking for Mike. He wasn't there, but that was hardly unusual. What was, however, was the complete lack of other associates. He could hear faint mumbling coming from their break room, but Mike would never willingly spend time with them in there, so he continued on towards his office.

Something twisted in his stomach when he saw that Donna wasn't at her desk, and Mike wasn't in Harvey's office. Rushing to his phone; thankfully on the desk and not lost somewhere between here and the restaurant like he had thought, he checked his messages. Four emails, a text, and one voicemail from Donna. Frowning, he dialled the number to access it, pressing the phone to his ear with a growing sense of unease.

"_Listen, Harvey."_Donna's voice sounded weird, blocked and heavy with emotion, croaky with tears. _"There's been an accident. It's Mike. I don't know how he is right now, but they've taken him to Lenox Hill because it's closest. Just, please. As soon as you get this, come find us."_

Harvey was sort of stuck. He had his phone still pressed to his ear, mouth open slightly, eyes wide. The phone informed him that the message was over and did he want- Harvey ended the call, sliding his phone into his pocket. Rushing out of his office, he burst into Jessica's where she and Louis were talking.

"Harvey, what-" She moved to come around the desk just as Louis stood from the chair he had taken.

"Is your car still downstairs?" He demanded, looking straight at Jessica. He could feel worry and panic overcoming him. Jessica nodded.

"Of course, why?"

"There's been an accident, Mike's hurt and in hospital. Donna is with him, but i need to get there. Can i take your car?" Jessica was nodding, picking up her desk phone to ring down and have one of the doormen inform her driver.

"What kind of accident? Is he okay?" Louis questioned, moving around to stand directly in front of Harvey.

"I don't know." Harvey ran a hand through his hair, ruining the gel holding it in place. "I don't know, Donna just left me a voicemail telling me they'd taken him to Lenox Hill and to find her when i got it."

"My driver is waiting when you're ready, and take the rest of the day. Let us know when you know anything." Jessica informs him, moving to stand beside Louis as they watching him in concern.

"Thank you." He tells her before directing his gaze to Louis. "The associates probably know what happened, can you find out? And let me know?"

"Yeah, yes, of course. Go." Louis tells him, nodding rapidly and shooing Harvey out of the room.

Harvey can hardly recall the ride to the hospital, just getting in the car and then getting out of it when Jessica's driver tells him they're there. He's always hated hospitals, reminded of his father dying and his brother's accidents as a child. A shiver runs through him as he makes his way into the ER waiting room.

He spots Donna the moment he walks in. Mascara streaming down her face, hair a wild mess, and blood on her fingers.

"Donna." He chokes out, frozen, staring at the dried red staining her fingers.

"Oh, god. Harvey." A moment later he's got his arm's full of Donna, sobbing into his chest as he tries to shush her. Eventually, she pulls away. There is a moment when she goes to wipe her eyes with her fingers but he grabs her wrists, drawing attention to the blood on her fingers. She whimpers, but he pulls out a handkerchief and wipes away the tears and mascara for her instead.

"What happened?" He pushes the used cloth into his pocket, framing her face with his hands.

"They associates." She gulped. "I don't know why, i don't- They had camera's at the top of the stairs, with flashes. Mike turned and fell, already fitting when he reached the bottom of the flight. Six minutes. For six minutes Harvey." He shushes her, brushing away the new errant tears. She takes a breath. "Gregory and Kyle were pinning him down, i made them let go, but the fall had already done damage. He hit his head, and he has a broken wrist at the least. He was unconscious when the fit stopped, his head was bleeding. It was bleeding a lot, Harvey." He shushes her again, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"It's okay, Donna. He'll be okay." It's false comfort, he knows, but it helps pull her together and eventually she pulls away. He follows her to the bathroom, standing guard at the door while she scrubs harshly at blood on her fingers and beneath her nails, she takes the rest of the black drips of makeup on her face but doesn't replace it, and then follows him back out to find a doctor to speak to.

Luckily, the moment they make their way back to the waiting room, there is a tired looking man calling for the Family of Mike Ross. They rush forward, stopping in front of the man breathlessly.

"That's us, or at least, we're his emergency contacts, he has no other family but an elderly grandmother." Donna breathes in deeply, sagging a little. The doctor just nods, beckons them through into a corridor and then keeps walking until they stop outside of a door.

"The first thing you should know is that, although he looked bad on admission, Michael is not in too much trouble right now." They nod, he see's Donna's relief in the lines around her eyes.

"The fit will cause his usual after effects; however he has a bad concussion on top of that. It's not going to help, he might have some speech difficulties when he wakes up, maybe some motor skill issues, but they will clear up. He may have an increase in the amount of fits he has, and that might require a change in medication. That will be discussed when he wakes up. He has three broken fingers, a broken wrist and two cracked ribs. Other than that, it's bruises and a deep laceration on his skull. Fifteen stitches from just above his temple to the crown of his head and two in his lip. Other than that, he's okay. We're just waiting for him to wake up."

"He hasn't woken up yet?" Harvey asks, hand pressed to the bottom of Donna's back reassuringly.

"Not yet, we have him on some strong painkillers and a sedative. We're going to wake him up slowly, try not to put too much strain on him. He should be fully awake and off the sedatives in a day or two tops."

"Can we see him?" The doctor nods, leading them through the door behind him. Mike is tiny and pale in the bed in the middle of the room. Bruises cover the parts of Mike's body that they can see, and some of his hair has been shaved for the stitches in his head. There is an IV line in his elbow, a nasal cannula feeding him oxygen, and monitors on either side of him. It's terrifying, and Harvey can hear Donna's hitch in her breathing as they take him in. The doctor leaves them alone with him, telling them that nurses are just outside if they need anything. He can faintly remember nodding as he and Donna take a side each, Donna taking the kids unbroken side and Harvey brushing his fingers through the hair on the side of his head that isn't shaved and stitched.

"He's going to hate that, when he wakes up." Donna nods at the bald spot.

"At least he'll be alive to hate it." Harvey mumbles in reply. They don't talk after that. They take seats on either side, and wait for Mike to wake up.

* * *

In the end Mike isn't sedative free and coherent for three days. Harvey had been there two days before he was forced to get some sleep, a shower and something to eat. _At home_. He's there, with Donna, when the kid finally wakes up and freaks out. It takes twenty minutes to explain it all, calm him down, figure out what he remembers.

Which is nothing.

He freaks out again. Mike has never forgotten a thing since he was old enough to retain memories. After that though, they have more important thing to deal with. Mike suffers from mild aphasia, muddling words up and using ones that are completely left field from what he was aiming for. The doctor tells him it's the concussion and the after effects of the fit, but Mike is a mess because of it. He gets frustrated, rubbing at his mouth harshly when someone points out that it has happened.

It's one of those times, and Mike is aiming for his mouth, he is, but his arm and his hand is shaking and weak, misses his mouth completely and ends up buried in his clavicle. Luckily, the motor issues clear up fairly quickly. But the aphasia never really goes away.

Mike can't be released for a month after his admittance, despite his objections. Since the accident he's had one minor Grand Mal, and eleven absence seizures. They were hopeful, when they had started, that they would fade along with the concussion, but they don't. They stay; they get longer and more debilitating. Eventually, Mike is given a new medication, and they slow. He gets migraines, light sensitivity and nausea more often than not. Mike sleeps fourteen hours a day for the first two weeks; it gets a little better after that.

Harvey had informed Mike, after he'd been told by Louis, that Kyle and Gregory had been dismissed. Even though they hadn't known about the epilepsy, the possibility of injury was incredibly high with the way they orchestrated their 'prank'. The rest of the associates had been subject to an investigation, and had their bonuses cancelled for the rest of the year. Mike, ever the goddamn bleeding heart, protests. Tries to claim they didn't know what they were doing and that it was just a jealous prank. Harvey tells the kid to stop being an idiot, to look at where they landed him.

The next time an absence seizure and an aphasia attack come within an hour of each other, he agrees, and says nothing about their punishment again.

After the month, the doctor released Mike into Harvey's care, and the kid is still so weak and vulnerable that he doesn't even complain when Harvey releases Mike from his lease and moves him in. His theory that in insurance pay and sick pay, and his next wage whenever he goes back, Mike will be more than able to afford a better apartment. Until then, until he's better, Mike will stay with Harvey.

It's a good job, too, because Mike almost burns himself, drops thirteen glasses, forgets where he is, has three absence seizures and falls asleep more often than he's awake in the next two weeks. After that, things get a little easier.

He still sleeps too much, talks a little funny sometimes, and zones out more than he really should. But he's been Grand Mal free for a little over a month and can be awake for five hours at a time now, so Harvey agrees to let him go back part time.

Some days, Harvey has to remind Mike to take his medication, to take a nap, get off the computer and get some sleep. And that's not confined to the office either. He's still living with Harvey, there is something building between them. It started when Harvey pulled Mike's hand away from his mouth when the aphasia started again, and replaced it with the softest of kisses. It's built since then, but it's not too much. They eat together; they curl up together and watch Star Trek. They even sleep in the same bed now, although they aren't having sex. Harvey is good for him, for his recovery. And Harvey tells him that he's good for him, too. That he helps Harvey remember what is it to feel something other than self-preservation. That Mike is the one person beside Donna who he would give up everything for, in a heartbeat.

Mike is angry at the other associates for what they did, but in some ways he is thankful. He gained Harvey (and a part of Harvey's office), he is promoted to senior associate above any of the others when the time comes, he is cared for and appreciated and although now Jessica knows his secret, he is more secure in his position than ever. And even if he wasn't, Harvey would move Heaven and Earth to keep him safe.

Things changed, and a year later he might not be perfect again. There are sometimes holes in his memory, sometimes he sleeps more than he works and mixes his words up so much that an entire conversation makes no sense. But he's okay, better than ever, really.

He's happy.


End file.
